The Russian
novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky suggested that "Beauty will save the
world." If not beauty, then what would save the world? Might? Money? Fun?
Politicians? Arms? Gritting our teeth and trying harder?
Christians say
"Jesus will save the world" - which is true. Dostoevsky, again, said
"There is only one face in the whole world which is absolutely beautiful:
the face of Christ." Was Jesus handsome? Maybe, maybe not. Jesus must have
exhibited something compelling in his persona. He must have been
"attractive," in that people were attracted to him. His words
intrigued. His compassionate embrace of any and everybody was alluring. People
asked him questions endlessly; he usually responded with a question, which says
to the other person You too are beautiful and wise, although you might not
have been told this before. Busy people dropped everything and traipsed off
after him, without knowing where they were going or how things would turn out.
I love St.
Augustine's pensive praise of Jesus: "He is beautiful in heaven, beautiful
on earth, beautiful in the womb, beautiful in his parents' arms..." He rambled
further on this, but I want us to pause and ponder how Jesus was
"beautiful in the womb" and then "beautiful in his parents'
arms." It's 20 days until Christmas. Don't think shopping days, but
imagine Jesus in his mother's womb, with 20 days to go. The Savior of the
world, there but not quite having arrived just yet. Dependent, like us. It's
dark, like our world. Cramped, with painful squeezes now and then. Before long
he'll undergo considerable trauma, exit the dark waters of the womb and land in
his parents' arms, out in the air, on the starlit earth, in the manger.
This wee one would
save the world. There's something evangelistic about Beauty. If you see
something beautiful, you're compelled to share. Snap a photo, or point; try to
describe it. If only others could see this! Isn't that the way the
Christian message, the glory that is God gets shared?
Beauty is so...
democratic. It's for everyone. Every person is immensely qualified to notice
and appreciate it. Yet so many miss it. You have to slow down. A knack for
beauty requires some cultivation. After all, an educated farmer might have a
far better chance than a Ph.D. in chemistry when it comes to noticing beauty.
Just as each one of us was, at some point, just like Jesus, in our mother's womb,
just days from being born, so each one of us is surrounded by beauty. And each
instance of beauty is one more kaleidoscopic refraction of the beauty that is
the face of Jesus.
Advent is a season
of repentance. Repentance isn't groveling in guilt. It's turning toward God.
It's a changed mind. Elaine Scarry says that "beautiful things have been
placed here and there in the world to serve as wake-up calls." This
Advent, keep an eye out for beauty. Be awakened to it. Turn toward God, who is
Beauty. Share with somebody.
